Volunteers, sponsors sought for annual Blues & Jazz Festival

Gahanna City Council member Ryan Jolley put out a call for volunteers and sponsors for the 16th annual Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival during a brief May 5 council meeting.

MARLA K. KUHLMAN, ThisWeek Community News

Gahanna City Council member Ryan Jolley put out a call for volunteers and sponsors for the 16th annual Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival during a brief May 5 council meeting.

Jolley, council's liaison to the Gahanna Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the annual festival is only 45 days away and volunteers still are needed.

Presented by the GCVB, the festival is a weekendlong celebration of music featuring local, regional and national blues and jazz acts on five different stages June 20-22 at Creekside.

"Nonprofits can earn money for their group by taking a shift," Jolley said. "The Convention & Visitors Bureau will make a donation to their group. It would be a big help. We have quite a few shifts to fill."

He said the bureau also is in need of more sponsors because some past supporters couldn't help this year.

"There is a lot more cost the CVB is footing this year," Jolley said. "It's the 16th festival. It's a big deal. We want to keep it as a premier event. Please volunteer. It's oh so fun."

An estimated 35,000 people are expected for the three-day festival, which will feature more than 90 hours of live music and entertainment, cuisines, regional artisans, amusement rides and family activities.

Anyone interested in volunteering or sponsoring the event should call the GCVB at 614-418-9114 or go online tocreeksidebluesandjazz.com.

Kneeland: Coffees with council successful

In other council discussion, vice president Tom Kneeland said the coffees with council have been going well. He said six to eight people attended the last gathering.

"It was encouraging to have people come out," he said.

The next informal gathering will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, at the Panera Bread, 91 N. Hamilton Road, at the Commons at Clark Hall.

Mayor praises SCOTUS on prayer ruling

Mayor Becky Stinchcomb said she's glad the Supreme Court upheld a decision earlier in the day to allow bodies like council to pray at the beginning of meetings.

In a 5-4 decision the court upheld the rights of local officials to open town council meetings with prayer, ruling it doesn't violate the Constitution even if the prayers routinely stress Christianity.

She also reminded council that Herb Day is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10, in Gahanna's Creekside district.

Creekside's upper plaza will feature more than 100 varieties of herbs and 3,000 plants for sale, supporting the Ohio Herb Education Center.

Presented by Mockingbird Meadows Herbal Health Farm, the free festival will include an herb information station with herbal experts, three keynote speakers, herbal demonstrations on the plaza and a medicinal-herb walk around Creekside Park.

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